Olympics halfway

We take a look at the situation at the halfway point in the sailing

Here we sit with five of 11 classes having completed their Medal Races in Qingdao, China. Or to put it another way, we are now just shy of half way through the sailing competition.

Already Australia have substantially bettered their medal tally from Athens, where they took exactly no medals. They have also equalled the number of Gold medals they won in the sailing at their home Olympics in Sydney 2000. It was the two 470 teams that delivered for the Australians today, with Wilmot and Page winning Gold medal in the Men and Rechichi and Parkinson winning Gold in the Women.



However, Australia as a nation will not be overly pleased as they had expected more from these Olympics and their goals are now looking increasingly hard. They had great hopes in the 49er in the form of current World Champions, Outteridge and Austin and at one point the pairing was looking good for Gold in the final Medal Race. However, a number of wipe-outs in the extreme conditions saw the Aussie team drop out of medal contention. Australia’s other great hope coming into this event was double World Champion, Tom Slingsby in the Laser. It has been interesting to see the young, confident man - who most thought would be unstoppable this summer in spite of his well known preference for windier weather - blow up completely. The Australian has not even qualified in the top ten to go through to the Medal Race tomorrow, a severe disappointment for him.

Only two nations have won any Gold medals so far in the competition and there are few surprises which nation the other two have gone too: with Great Britain and Skandia Team GBR taking the first two Medals of the competition, in first the Yngling and then the Finn.



It is hard to imagine a more dominant team than Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson in the Yngling. This Olympic cycle they have won the last two Yngling World Championships, and have only finished off the podium twice at a major event. They showed supreme speed and confidence this week with Ayton and Webb becoming the second women in British Olympic history to take two consecutive Gold Medals (the first being Shirley Robertson).

But there was an even stronger contender within the British squad: Ben Ainslie? The Finn medal race saw Ainslie take victory, his third consecutive Gold medal and his fourth consecutive Medal at the Olympic Games. He showed his supreme skill, winning the race in impressive style. Ainslie has not been beaten in the Finn since SPA Regatta back in 2004 - there are not words to describe this amazing achievement. The question now is will he go for a fourth Gold on home waters in 2012 and more beyond?



Although Qingdao has not exactly delivered great conditions this week, we watched the 49er medal race with our hearts in our mouths, and were more excited by the phenomenal Danish victory than anything else so far this week. It will be very easy for people to say this is not what racing is about or that it did not show sailing at its best. However, the Danes breaking their mast, borrowing a boat and working their way through the carnage to re-take a Gold which previously seemed to have slipped through their fingers with their rig breakage only minutes earlier, was the best sailing story we have ever witnessed. It was also the best sailing we have seen on TV. Finally people can understand that when a boat falls over and someone goes past that is bad. I have heard people say this race was hard to follow and in truth the results permutations probably were. However, it was very easy to follow much of what was going on. When we have been told the Australians are in Gold medal position by the commentator and they pitchpole it would take an idiot not to realise they would now not be in Gold position. And it was certainly spectacular.

I suppose the only real disappointment was seeing most of the 49er fleet racing the last run without their kites up. We understand when there are medals on the cards safety is a key factor but we would have preferred to see a few more crews really pushing to the end.



So, Team GBR lead the Medal table at the moment with two Golds and one Silver. Tomorrow, baring a total disaster they should add another Gold with Paul Goodison in the Laser. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) should add to Railey’s Bronze in the Finn, by getting Gold or Silver in the Radials which will up the US score. Currently the Brits also sit in a Medal position in the RS:X class where Nick Dempsey is in second. The French could also pick up another Medal in this class from Julien Bontemps, he will be looking to add something other than Bronze to their tally. Meanwhile in the Women's class Spain will be hoping to add to their single Silver medal as Marina Alabau is currently in third. The Brits and the Austrlaians are also fighting for a medal, sitting two points apart in fourth and fifth respectively.

Beyond that it is still early days, though it would be a shock if Australia did not get another Medal from the Tornado. We wait to see but so far all is looking good for Team GBR and there is a lot to be smiling about elsewhere as well.

Medals:

Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Tot
Great Britain	2	1	0	3
Australia	2	0	0	2
Denmark	1	0	0	1
Netherlands	0	2	0	2
Spain	0	1	0	1
USA	0	1	0	1
France	0	0	2	2
Brazil	0	0	1	1
Germany	0	0	1	1
Greece	0	0	1	1